A 2,000-capacity party to celebrate New Year’s Day has become the latest event to be blocked from going ahead on St Albans farmland, after the council’s licensing team said “residents have been put through enough”.
The application is the third music event planned for Springfield Farm, Old Parkbury Lane, since August to be refused by St Albans District Council, after authorities raised concerns about the suitability of the site.
At least two other applicants have withdrawn their application before it was heard by the council’s licensing sub-committee.
Andreas Millios had applied for a premises licence to host the event on January 1, but the fire service, police, environmental health and the council’s licensing officers all objected to the plans.
The event was due to host house music across two stages between 2pm and 11pm, with the organiser saying despite the higher capacity limit, the event would more likely host around 800 people.
Mr Millios noted that there are currently 16 premises licences in place for the site, but the responsible authorities said these were approved before complaints had been raised over the summer.
The organiser said he wanted to do “everything in my power” to put the event on, noting that he had successfully organised similar events elsewhere.
However, environmental health maintained its objection to the Springfield Farm site as “unsuitable” for music events and festivals at present after receiving a number of complaints from nearby residents during the summer.
Daniel Pattenden, the council’s senior licensing officer, said despite trying to enforce restrictions during past events, “nearly every single event” held this summer resulted in complaints about noise.
Mr Pattenden added: “It’s not a slight on Mr Millios, I do believe he actually wants to run a good event. I just don’t think the site is capable of doing so at the moment.
“I will admit I am currently…
Source : times
